Saturday, March 6, 2010

Around 3 a.m. on April 27, 1913, Newt Lee, the night watchman for the National Pencil Factory, carried a lantern with him to the factory basement to help him light his way to the "Negro toilet." When his light fell upon a prone human form, Lee called Atlanta police, who arrived ten minutes later. The body was that of a thirteen-year-old girl. Her skull was dented and caked with blood. A piece of jute rope was wrapped around her neck. A worker at the factory called to the scene identified the body: "Oh my God! That's Mary Phagan."

The murder of Mary Phagan shocked a city already reeling from crime, violence, and desperate working conditions. Within the previous decade, Atlanta had experienced a serious race riot and recorded the highest arrest rate of any major city in the country. Child labor laws were widely ignored and children worked for as little as 22 cents a week. The Mary Phagan murder unleashed a pent up frustration with the pathological conditions of the city.

Unfortunately, it now seems, events and the South's anti-Semitism conspired to lead to the conviction of the wrong man, the factory's Jewish superintendent, Leo Frank. The case ultimately drew the attention of the United States Supreme Court and the Governor of Georgia, but neither the Constitution nor a Governor's commutation could spare Frank a violent death at the end of rope strung from a Georgia oak tree....- Douglas O. Linder (2008)

For those of you who watch 'Burn Notice'.....Did the final minute of the season finale put anybody else in mind of 'The Prisoner'?(I can't put up a picture from it because Hulu doesn't show clips from 'Burn Notice' until 8 days later. Which is just as well, because it was a spoiler, and I have no clue how to hide things behind a link......)BCnU!

Friday, March 5, 2010

From Wikipedia:On May 1, Jim Conley, the pencil factory's janitor, was caught by the plant's day watchman, E.F. Holloway, washing a dirty shirt. Conley tried to hide the shirt, then claimed the stains on the shirt were from "rust". Conley denied under oath that he was literate, had a grade-school education and could read and write. This would later become crucial with regard to the murder notes.

The factory foreman, Holloway, told the Georgian that he believed Conley "strangled Mary Phagan while about half drunk", resulting in a May 28 headline reading, "SUSPICION TURNED TO CONLEY; ACCUSED BY FACTORY FOREMAN." Seeing the headline, Conley conjured up a new story: an agitated Frank, in a dramatic meeting in the dark, ordered him to hide in a wardrobe to avoid being seen by two women, later dictated the murder notes to him, gave him cigarettes, and told him to leave the factory. Afterward, Conley went out drinking and saw a movie. Phagan's $1.20 in pay had also disappeared, leading the police to wonder whether Conley might have killed her for the money. The police asked Frank to confront Conley. Frank refused because his lawyer was out of town, though even when Rosser returned, no meeting took place.

Under further pressure from the police regarding the discrepancies in his story, Conley gave another version, in this account he gave his final statement. During the trial Conley admitted the reason he lied in the beginning of the investigation and did not immediately tell the truth was that he was trying to cover for Leo Frank. Conley stated Frank originally offered him $200 on the day of the murder to destroy the body and evidence. Frank asked Conley to move and dispose Phagan's body by burning it in the basement furnace. When the police asked where was the alleged $200 Frank had given Conley, Conley then responded to this question by saying when he wouldn't immediately burn Phagan's body for Frank in the basement furnace, Frank had asked to see the money, taken it back, folded it and put it in his pocket, Frank told Conley if he came back later and disposed of the body in the furnace he would get the $200 back. Conley also said Frank, in foreshadowing words, told him on the day of the murder, "Why should I hang? I have wealthy people in Brooklyn."

Two unsworn witnesses came forward to incriminate Conley. Will Green, a carnival worker, said that he had been playing craps at the factory with Conley and had run away from him when Conley had declared his intention to rob a girl who walked by. William Mincey, an insurance salesman, had met an intoxicated Conley on the street. He said that Conley, trying to brush Mincey off, said, "I have killed one today and do not wish to kill another." Mincey had thought it was a joke. Neither man signed an affidavit or testified in court.BCnU!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

So I'm hanging out today at my buddy Michael's apartment, watching an episode of 'Jake 2.0' on Syfy. I explained the premise to Mikey and his first question was about the extent of the nanobot infestation of Jake's body. As the scene on TV was of a romantic nature, I'm assuming that he was referring to Jake's "boys" swimming around down in their holding cell.....

It reminded me of a very funny essay by Larry Niven, "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex". I have to say that it's the height of comic book geekiness.With Jake Foley, I think the same problem would apply. Any woman whom Jake wanted to have sex with would have to get NSA clearance. JAKE:Diane, I have millions of microscopic robots running around inside of me. Please tell me what the next step in this relationship is, because I have no clue. I mean, the best I can hope for is that I don't lie to her, because she can never know the real me. Nobody can ever know the real me. Nobody ... except you.And it would have to be performed under clinical conditions, to make sure she never got pregnant. Would an individual born with superhuman abilities lose their right to be their own person? Would the government confiscate such a baby?

It seems like the kind of topic 'The Prisoner' might have tackled.....I'm surprised the government never insisted on Jake getting a vasectomy. Chances are though that the nanites would only repair the damage.......

BCnU!

PS:Sorry, folks. I run a fairly clean ship here. That's all of the 'Smallville' slash-fic picture you're going to see here....

From Wikipedia:Hugh Manson Dorsey (July 10, 1871 – June 11, 1948) was an American lawyer, jurist, and the 62nd Governor of Georgia associated with the Democratic Party.

He was born in Fayetteville, Georgia, Georgia in 1871 and moved with his family to Atlanta, Georgia in 1879. Dorsey graduated from the University of Georgia in 1893. Dorsey is noted as the prosecuting attorney (serving as the solicitor-general of the Fulton County Superior Court) in the Leo Frank murder trial. His fame from that trial led to two consecutive two-year terms as the Governor of Georgia from 1917 to 1921. Dorsey also served as a superior court judge in Atlanta from 1935 until his death in 1948. He is buried in Westview Cemetery in Atlanta.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

With regards to that piece I posted earlier today about Russell Hunter being the inspiration for Gollum in Peter Jackson's adaptation of "The Lord Of The Rings", it could be that Jackson had also seen him in the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, "The Five Red Herrings".

Here's how Hunter looked as Matthew Gowan by the end of the story: BCnU!

While watching the 'Callan' episode "Suddenly - At Home", I was struck by the use of mirrors and reflections throughout the episode. It was an artistic choice that reminded me of episodes from 'Lost' and 'Mad Men'.Maybe because I noticed it at all means that it was a bad directing choice; I don't know. Alls I know was that I liked it....

I can't write anything definitively on this until after 'Lost' is over; I might even have to wait until 'Supernatural' has finished its run as well. But still I wanted to put this out there, submit it foryour approval:

Although he may be stuck in the bodily form of John Locke right now in this final season of 'Lost', the "Man In Black" used to look like the actor Titus Welliver.Someone else who looked like Welliver was War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as seen on 'Supernatural'.Since both beings are of supernatural origin, could it be that there is some sort of connection?I'm not saying they have to be the same being - their timelines could be overlapping. Then again the Man In Black was stuck on the Island - at least as of 2007. War, AKA Roger, was introduced in 2009. Who knows? Maybe the Man In Black does escape the Island and gets to go home - and resume his career as War. If War had been free to join his fellow Horsemen (Famine, Pestilence, and Death), don't you think the Apocalypse in Earth Prime-Time would have occurred with the new Millennium?We'll have to wait and view what happens in both shows. At least with 'Lost' we'll have the answers (about the Man In Black at least) after the finale on May 23. 'Supernatural' looks to have a solid run ahead of it still; they can afford to hold off with the answer platter.BCnU!

Toying with the concept of Television as an alternate reality isn't my only interest in Life. I have other hobbies: Elfquest comics, for instance, and urban fantasy stories. And abusing people as my personal playthings.I'm also a big fan of "The Lord Of The Rings" - the books especially, but also the movies. And while watching/researching the Edward Woodward series 'Callan', I discovered that there was a connection to the Tolkien trilogy.Russell Hunter played Lonely, a low-life thief who worked for Callan as a snitch. And apparently, Peter Jackson remembered this series from his youth and used Hunter's portrayal of Lonely as the model for the look of Gollum, with the bug eyes, the thin wavering lips, and the sniveling personality. If Hunter knew of this before he died in 2004, I'm hoping he considered the recognition as an honor.Thinking 'pon how both of them look, I can see the resemblance. But I don't know how much faith I should put in this trivial nugget, since the main source for the info comes from the IMDb.com. Like Wikipedia, any damned fool can add to that site, so this could have been made up just to pull a fast one on people like me.But still, I like the comparison.BCnU!

From Wikipedia:Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884 – August 17, 1915) was an American man who became the only known Jew to be lynched on American soil. The manager of his uncle's pencil factory in Atlanta, Georgia, Frank was convicted in the rape and murder of one of his factory workers, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. The case is widely regarded as having been a miscarriage of justice. It was the focus of many conflicting cultural pressures, and the jury's conclusion represented in part, class and regional resentment of educated Northern industrialists who were perceived to be wielding too much power in the South, threatening southern culture and morality.

The trial was sensationalized by the media. The Georgia politician and publisher Tom Watson used the case to build personal political power and support for a revival of the Ku Klux Klan.

Shortly after Frank's conviction, new evidence emerged that cast doubt on his guilt. After the governor commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment, Frank was kidnapped from prison and lynched by a group of prominent citizens who called themselves the "Knights of Mary Phagan." The mob was reported to have included the son of a senator, a former governor, lawyers, and a prosecutor.

In response to the Frank case, the Bnai Brith founded the Anti-Defamation League in 1913. Ultimately, in 1986, Georgia granted Frank a pardon.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Sean is a friend of mine, the Little Buddy to my Skipper. He and his wife Gosia and their kids live in Taiwan where he teaches English. (I'm the god-father to their daughter Rhiannon.)

And every so often, Sean comes up with interesting Toobworld theories, including one which splains why the technology of 'Enterprise' was so far advanced of that seen in the original 'Star Trek' series. (And hopefully one day he'll write it up for me!)

Here's his theory about a Gallifreyan Time Lord in an alternate TV dimension......

My insomnia has been leading me to write odd Toobworld theories late at night. This one was for the ITV 'Marple' episode "Towards Zero"... It was nice to see [Tom] Baker in it...

Warned of upcoming danger by the TARDIS' Cloister Bell, the Doctor decides to stay out of trouble, and instead spends time fixing his broken chameleon circuit by extracting the measurements of a true police box on Earth in order to give to the mathematicians of the planet Logopolis. He is unaware that the Master is aware of his plan, and materializes his own TARDIS in a recursive loop with the Doctor's. The Doctor and Adric work out the recursion, and attempt to flush the Master out by materializing the TARDIS in the River Thames, but instead land on a boat on the river with no sign of the Master's TARDIS.

Outside, the Doctor sees a glowing white figure, the Watcher, who directs him to hurry to Logopolis. The Doctor does not follow the Watcher’s advice, and instead uses the Chameleon Arch to transform himself into a human, hoping to avert the crisis which is to come. He takes the TARDIS for one more flight, into Earth’s recent past, alerts Adric to his plan and instructs him to pilot the TARDIS to humanity’s primeval era where the Master can do no damage. Adric does so*, thus saving much of the Galaxy, including the Traken Union, from the Master’s plan of Galactic conquest.

The Doctor, unaided by an assistant and forgotten, assimilates himself into Earth’s 1930’s and 40’s era as Mr. Frederick Treves. He lives this life until he is unfortunately murdered, years later, [by someone] who takes advantage of his weak and aged hearts. Though the Doctor dies unknown and unaided on his favorite planet, it may be some small comfort that his killer is found out by one Miss Jane Marple of Saint Mary Mead.

Sean

*Due to an error in Adric’s piloting, he rematerializes into a core system on a Cyberman-controlled freighter, causing it to crash into the Earth and causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.

THE TOOBWORLD TAKE:Why I like this -

First off, it takes place in an alternate TV dimension, so that it has no bearing on the events of Earth Prime-Time. No Zonks!

We know it's an alternate TV dimension because Miss Jane Marple is played in this episode by Geraldine McEwan. The Miss Marple of Earth Prime-Time was played by Dame Joan Hickson.

I'm looking at a previously established alternate TV dimension for this story - from the two-part 'Doctor Who' episode "The Age Of Steel" and "The Rise Of The Cybermen" (or vice versa). There was a feeling about that world that the Doctor was unknown there, that its Earth never was visited by the Time Lord. Even after Rose had been there for awhile, she never mentioned the arrival of the Doctor to once again save Earth in the nick of Time. As she was working for UNIT over there, surely she would have come across mention of him.

But perhaps the Doctor used to visit in the past, and since his death back in the 1930's, (and because of it), the world deviated from a path similar to Earth Prime-Time.

Since we know that there are fixed points in Time, Adric was always pre-destined to die in a somewhat similar fashion to the way he perished in "Earthshock". And not even a Big Finish audio-play - "The Boy That Time Forgot" - can change that.

The presence of those Cybermen in Earth's primitive past isn't negated by the creation of John Lumic's Cybermen in the new future. Despite RTD's "best" efforts, Mondas would still exist in that dimension.

Thanks, Sean!Do you have some off-beat Toobworld theory of your own? Send it along and I'll give it a showcase here!

From Wikipedia:John Marshall Slaton, or Jack Slaton, (December 25, 1866 – January 11, 1955) served two non-consecutive terms as the 60th Governor of Georgia.

Slaton was born in Meriwether County, Georgia.

Slaton received a master of arts degree with highest honors from the University of Georgia in 1886 . Slaton married Sally Frances Grant in 1898. In 1915, Slaton commuted the sentence for Leo Frank from death to life imprisonment. "I can endure misconstruction, abuse and condemnation," Slaton said, "but I cannot stand the constant companionship of an accusing conscience which would remind me that I, as governor of Georgia, failed to do what I thought to be right . . . It means that I must live in obscurity the rest of my days, but I would rather be plowing in a field than to feel that I had that blood on my hands."

The commutation of convicted murderer Leo Frank, because of the sensational nature of the trial, would result in the permanent end of Governor Slaton's career as a politician.

Some viewed the commutation by Slaton as a conflict of interest, as Slaton was a law partner of Frank's lead defense counsel. Slaton's actions led to threats of mob violence against the governor, and the Georgia National Guard and local police were enlisted for protection.

After his public service, Slaton served as the President of the Georgia State Bar Association (1928-29) and as a member of the General Council of the American Bar Association.

The former governor died on January 11, 1955 in Atlanta, and is interred inside Grant Mausoleum in Oakland Cemetery. The mausoleum interment was due to the Leo Frank controversy. [See comment below.]

Monday, March 1, 2010

Jean Marsh is bringing her character of Rose from 'Upstairs, Downstairs' back to Television, and she'll be brought forward in Time!Well, not that far forward....'Upstairs, Downstairs' will be brought back to PBS in a co-production with the BBC. But this time the series will be set in 1936 to account for some of the passage of Time, as evidenced in the age of the characters. (But it's not enough. The series ended in 1975 with the dawn of the Great Depression after the stock market crash. Thirty-five years later? It should then be 1965 at the Bellamy household! I think that would have made for a much more interesting storyline with Rose and the Bellamys....)Aside from Rose, I have no clue if any of the other original characters will be back - and if so, would they be recast. Several of the actors have passed away, including Gordon Jackson and Angela Baddeley. And especially with those two, they were so identified with their roles (Hudson and Mrs. Bridges, respectively) that it is inconceivable that anybody else could be playing the roles. (Eileen Atkins, who co-created the series, may be playing a role this time.)It's going to be set in the same house, which is fine. But if I had my druthers, I'd avoid the recasting problem by having 165 Eaton Place occupied by a new family.Just sayin', is all....BCnU!

In the episode "Act Of Kindness", 'Callan' attended a model soldier convention where he met Heathcote Land, an executive with an industrial corporation which sold tractors to Russian as one of its interests. They struck up a friendship as they rolled dice in their war games, but it didn't take long for Land to figure out that Callan was a government agent.Heathcote Land was a "white file" - it was Callan's mission to get him to either resign or back away from causing his rival in the corporation (Donovan Prescott) to resign. (The Russians had figured out that Prescott was a government operative and sent incriminating photos of him to Land.)

It's just a theory, but it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble (as Mushrat would say in those 'Deputy Dawg' cartoons) that another TV character was attending that war gaming convention in 1970 London.As shown in the "Congratulations" episode of 'New Tricks', Brian Lane was also an aficionado of war games and the model soldiers used to carry out those campaigns.

Currently Brian Lane is retired from the Metropolitan Police Force, but he still works for them as a member of UCOS - the Unsolved Crimes and Open Cases Squad. Back in 1970, however, he would have been a 24 year old policeman, perhaps a bobbie, more likely already a detective with that amazing memory of his. And probably with limited means for indulging in his hobby.

Still, it could be that one of the gentlemen seen in the background of that convention was actually young Brian Lane. (Being in the background, away from the camera, would help a lot since Alun Armstrong, even as a young man, might have been too distinctive to be just anybody in the crowd.)My favorite candidate? This guy, dead center in the background: That's him again behind Heathcote Land, re-emerging from behind the flag. That profile certainly suggests the look of Brian Lane to me, to put it politley. And here he is again, walking away and passing by Callan's snitch, Lonely.It's a tenuous way to have TV characters cross paths, but look how tenuous some of the connections were between the characters of 'Lost' in their flashbacks. For instance, Jin breaks into a man's house and Hurley can be seen on the TV. But that's what we do here at Toobworld Central - we look for those unofficial, unconfirmed link pozz'bilities!

I snared these pics myself off the DVD, but if you're interested in seeing more detailed screen caps of the war games played by Callan and Land, may I suggest you visit the blog Wargaming Miscellany and search out the articles about 'Callan'. He has lots of great pics there not only from "Act Of Kindness" but also from the pilot episode, "A Magnum For Schneider", and the Callan movie, "The Wet Job".

From Wikipedia:William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and the wealthiest overall as of 2009. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder with more than 8 percent of the common stock. He has also authored or co-authored several books.Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a number of industry insiders criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts (see Criticism of Microsoft). In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June, 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates' last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

It's being reported that Dermot Mulroney has been cast as Jim Rockford in a new version of 'The Rockford Files'.

Bad idea.

And the remake of 'Hawaii Five-0' is a bad idea.

The remake of 'Battlestar Galactica' worked, but that was on a niche channel. There are higher expectations with the major networks. And remakes seldom work.

'Hawaii Five-0' should have been all about a new generation of Five-0 cops, working in the (acknowleded) traditions of the original Steve McGarrett. But there's no way this new crew -even with Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim on board - will survive comparison to the originals.

The same with Jim Rockford. What were they thinking? How can they expect to erase people's memories of James Garner in the role?

A nephew? That could have worked. Or somebody with a whole different name in the same situations. Sure, put him in a trailer on the beach with his phone in the fridge. Just don't say he's the Rockfish.

At any rate, both shows will have to be relegated to the TV dimension of remakes if their situations remain the same.....

As I said earlier this week, I don't usually cover pilots until they've actually got the green light to go to series. But this one feels like a given, considering its pedigree.

Jim Belushi is slated to star in a legal drama called 'Defenders' that may be picked up by CBS. The reason I think it may go to series is because Carol Mendelsohn is one of the executive producers. She performs the same duties for 'CSI'.

So I can see CBS picking up the show - about two defense attorneys in Las Vegas (Belushi's role would be modeled on Mickey Sherman) - and then asking for a crossover tie-in to 'CSI' so that 'Defenders' can ride the coat-tails to bigger ratings.

I've finished the third season for 'Callan', and now that I'm hooked I just realized that Netflix put my request for season four into the "Saved" column. Hopefully they'll pick up a copy soon!

In the meantime, it's onward to another tribute - "Five Red Herrings", a 'Lord Peter Wimsey' mystery in salute to the late Ian Carmichael. (I was watching 'Callan' in memory of Edward Woodward.)

Now I've only seen the first two parts of "Five Red Herrings" and have only nine episodes of 'Callan' under my belt, but already I feel like making a theory of relateeveety that would connect the two shows!

Lonely is the low-life snitch that does odd jobs for Callan in the course of his assignments - surveillance, breaking and entering, passing messages, that sort of thing. As far as I can tell, we never do learn what his real name is or anything about his background, other than how many times he's been nicked for his petty crimes. But as for his parentage, other members of his family? I'm not so sure it ever comes up. And even if it does, it shouldn't cause a problem with this familial link, as this doesn't have to be a claim as closely connected as father and son. (Although it could be if Lonely's lineage remains vague.)

In "The Five Red Herrings", Lord Peter Wimsey has crossed over the border into Scotland for a bit of a vacation, to do some fishing. And he's found himself in a hamlet that is teeming with temperamental artists, one of whom is found quite dead.

One of these artists is Matthew Gowan, a rather hirsute Highlander..... As 'Callan' took place in the late 1960's into the early 1970's, and the 'Lord Peter Wimsey' mysteries are set in the late 1920's and the 1930's, Gowan is at least a generation older than Lonely. The case could be made for Gowan to be Lonely's father: during time spent in London when visiting his club (the Mahlstick Piccadilly), he could have fathered a bastard child. Although if Lonely is the same age as the actor who played him, he would have been born in the mid-1920's. Therefore it couldn't have happened during the case of "The Five Red Herrings" as that took place in 1932. (Betty the maid went to the cinema and saw "Mata Hari" starring Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro, which came out in America in December, 1931.)

But it just as easily could be that the relation is not that close, and yet still the resemblance between them could be that perfect. It's the Toobworld way with tele-genetics; the best example is Corporal Randolph Agarn of 'F Troop' and all of his distantly related cousins who bore an amazing likeness to him.

So Matthew Gowan could be Lonely's uncle, or an older second cousin, some such relation. And that would theoretically link 'Callan' to 'Lord Peter Wimsey'.

[It may not be apparent what with all of that hair, but Russell Hunter, who played Lonely, also played Gowan.]

We began Black History Month with a famous American black woman, and we're going out the same way.....

ELLA FITZGERALD

AS SEEN IN:"Pirates Of Silicon Valley"

AS PLAYED BY:Cardella Di Milo

From Wikipedia:Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz vocalist. With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.She is widely considered one of the supreme interpreters of the Great American Songbook. Over a recording career that lasted 59 years, she was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.

Just An Old Cowhand On The TiVo Grande

As the Trickster once said, "Reality is boring, that's why I change it whenever I can."
I'm just "The Man Who Viewed Too Much", and "Inner Toob" is a blog exploring and celebrating the 'reality' of an alternate universe in which everything that ever happened on TV actually takes place.
Most of my theories about the TV Universe come from thinking inside the box and thus can't be proven. But I've never been one to shy away from a tall tale.....
Remember: "The more you watch, the more you've seen!"